Carry-over mechanism with variable ratios

ABSTRACT

In a clock provided with means for indicating the days and the months, a carry-over mechanism is governed by a cam or similar element the movement of which is positively connected with the movement of the month indicating means, whereby the change-over mechanism is steadily in phase with both of said indicating means.

United States Patent 15 3,681,913 Solari [451 Aug. 8, 1972 [54] CIARRY-OVER MECHANISM WITH [56] References Cited ARIABLE RATIOS FOREIGN PATE OR APPLICATIONS [72] Inventor: Fermo Solari, Udine, Italy NTS 1,137,773 12/1968 England ..58/4 [73] Ass1gnee: Solari & C/Udine S.p.A., Udine,

Italy Primary Examiner-Richard B. Wilkinson F 1 Assistant Examiner-Edith C. Simmons [22] fled July 1970 Attorney-Holman & Stern [21] Appl. No.: 56,856

ABSTRACT [30] Foreign Application Priority Data In a clock provided with means for indicating the days and the months, a carry-over mechanism is governed July 30, 1969 Italy ..60545 A/69 by a cam or similar element the movement of which is positively connected with the movement of the month [2%] F5. ((51 "5395121 indicating means whereby the change over o-f mechanism is steadily in phase of dicating means.

2 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PAIENIEDAus 81972 SHEET 2 OF 3 INVEXTOR. m Y m 191T: Mfrs CARRY-OVER MECHANISM WITH VARIABLE RATIOS The present invention refers to a carry-over mechanism with variable ratios for indicators, such as clocks combined with calendars.

Clocks provided with calendars include a mechanism interposed between the day indicating device and the month indicating device, which mechanism actuates the latter device in dependence from the days of each month with a variable ratio because the number of days in each month is variable.

Conventional mechanism, usually ratchet mechanisms, for performing variable ratio carry-over, are synchronized or set in phase with the devices indicating the days and the months at the moment on which the clock is started.

If, at any subsequent moment, the clock stops, for instance during a long storing period, the next operation of the clock requires a manual forward movement of the day and month indicating devices and, moreover, a setting on phase of the carry-over mechanism such as if the clock had been operating since the moment of its first setting on phase.

The object of this invention is to provide a variable ratio carry-over mechanism which is steadily in phase with the day and month indicating devices, even when these are manually displaced independently from the clock gears.

For this purpose a carry-over mechanism operation on variable ratios has been devised which is controlled by a means which moves together with the month indicating device.

This and other features, aims and advantages of the invention will appear more evidently from the following description given by way of non limitative examples, with reference to the attached drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a mechanism according to the invention, and

FIGS. 2, 3, 4 and 5 show details of the same.

With particular reference to FIG. 1 of the drawings, is a rotating shaft turning by one revolution through 24 hours on which a cam 11 provided with a recess 12 is fixed. A pinion 13 is fixed to the cam 11 coaxially with the shaft 10 and engages a gear wheel 14 fixed on a part of a rotatable pivot 15 extending from one side of a plate 16 forming part of the casing of the mechanism. The other part of said pivot 15 extends from the other side of the plate 16 and carries a pinion l7 fixed thereto and engaging a gear wheel 18 which is loosely sup ported by a shaft 19 extending from the plate 16 and rotatably carried by the same.

20 indicates a spiral spring the ends of which are respectively fastened to the gear 18 and to the shaft 19. A gear wheel 21 is fixed on the shaft 19 close to the spring 20; this gear wheel engages a pinion 22 loosely rotatable on a pin 23 extending from the plate 16.

24 indicates a disc, fixed to the pinion 22, on the periphery of which four pairs of stop teeth are placed at an angle at 90 from one another, the said teeth being perpendicular to the disc 24; each of said pairs is composed of an upper tooth 25 and a lower tooth 26. These teeth cooperate with the bent end 27 of an arm 28, the other end of which is fixed on one end of a shaft 29 rotatably supported by the plate 16. At the other end of this shaft 29 is fixed one end of an arm 30, the other end of which carries a roller 31 steadily kept in contact with the cam 11 by a spring 32. I

At an intermediate point of said arm 28 there is a nose 33 which can rest on the annular projection 34 of a disc 35 fixed on the shaft 19, the circumference of which has two gear teeth or notches 35a. The circular profile of said annular projection is interrupted through a portion 36, in correspondence of which the said projection has a smaller radius; this portion can be covered by a sector 37, which has a radius equal to the radius of the annular projection 34 and is located inside the latter. This sector is pivoted on the shaft 19 and its rotation is governed, in the manner to be explained hereafter, by an arcuate lever 38 pivoted at an intermediate point 39 on the projection 34; a blade spring 40 acts on one end of said lever 38, while the other end thereof is connected to the sector 37 through a loose engagement 41-42. A pin 43 extends from the end of said lever 38 in correspondence of the spring 40, and the free end of said pin contacts an annular cam 44.

The cam 44 (FIG. 3) is fixed to a gear wheel 45 which is in turn fixed to the flange of a reel 46 (only one end of which is shown), loosely mounted on the shaft 19. The flanges of said reel 46 are provided with a plurality of holes 47 in which conventional blades 48 indicating the months are pivoted.

The said cam 44 is divided into four sectors 49 (FIG. 4), the profile of each of which has teeth 44a and recesses 44b and corresponds, as it will be shown further on, to the cycle of one year except the month of February. As it can be seen in FIG. 1, the cam 44 is fixed to the gear wheel 45 at a suitable distance there from; four cams, one for each of said sectors 49, are pivoted at 50 (FIG. 3) between the gear wheel 45 and the cam 44. Three of said four cams are indicated at 51 and have equal profiles, while the fourth one is indicated at 52 and has a profile slightly different from that of the other three. The three cams 51 correspond to the months of February of 28 days of three successive years, while the cam 52 corresponds to the month of February of 29 days of the fourth year, which is a leap-year.

Said cams 51, 52 are movable between two positions; a first or inoperative position, in which their profile does not interfere with the profile of the cam 44, and a second or operative position in which their profile overlaps the profile of the cam in correspondence to the February of each year. A tooth 66 fixed to the casing of the mechanism actuates, as it will be described hereinafter, the displacement of the cams 51, 52 from said first to said second position. A shaft 53 is rotatally supported by the plate 16 and carries a slidable and rotatable gear 54 provided with two adjacent staggered rows of teeth 55, 56 adapted to act into the recess 35a of the disc 35, each of said rows comprising six teeth. On the terminal part of said shaft 53 there is fixed a pinion 57 to which a shagreened roller 58 is secured, said pinion 57 being connected to the gear wheel 54 through a saw-tooth clutch 59, the function of which will be explained hereinafter.

A spring inserted on the shaft 53 and acting between the plate 16 and a side of the gear 54 keeps the teeth of the clutch 59 normally engaging with each other. Said pinion 57 is coupled with the gear 45.

The operation of the mechanism described hereabove is the following.

The cam 11 is rotated by a device indicating the hours, of any conventional kind which, therefore, is not described, and charges the spring 20 through the pinion 13, the gear wheel 14, the pinion l7 and the loose gear wheel 18 (to which one end of the spring 20 is connected), since the rotation of the shaft 19 (to which the other end of the spring 20 is connected) is prevented by the engagement between the bent end 27 of the arm 28 and one of the teeth 25 of the disc 24, through the pinion 22 and the gear wheel 21 fixed on the shaft 19.

When the cam 11 has completed its revolution, that is a 24 hours cycle, the roller 31, urged by the spring 32, drops into the recess 12 of the cam 11, without reaching its bottom, however, for the reason explained hereinafter. This movement of the roller 31 into the recess 12 causes, through the arm 30 and the shaft 29, a slight rotation of the arm 28 in the direction shown by the arrow F, this rotation being stopped by the nose 33 abutting the projection 34 of the disc 35, thus preventing the roller 31 from reaching the bottom of the recess 12.

The arm 28, when rotating, disengages its bent end 27 from the tooth 25 of the disc 24, so that the shaft 19 is no more blocked and rotates until the subsequent tooth 26 of the disc 24 (which is rotated by the shaft 19 through the gear 21 and the pinion 22) abutting the end 27 of the arm 28 blocks its rotation again (FIG. 2). This rotation of the shaft 19 causes a rotation of the disc 35 with its projection 34, the profile of which is felt by the nose 33 of the arm 28.

The continuing rotation of the cam 11, transmitted thereto by the aforementioned hour indicating device, causes the roller 31 to climb up from the recess 12 on the circumference of the said cam causing the arm 28- to rotate in the direction indicated by the arrow F so as to bring the arm 28 to its initial position. This rotation disengages the bent end 27 from the tooth 26 (FIG. 2), so that the shaft 19 and the disc 35 with its projection 34, still under the action of the spring 20, will rotate until the subsequent tooth 25 abutting the end 27 of the arm 28 blocks its rotation again.

it will be apparent from the above that the passage of each pair of teeth 25, 26, that is the rotation of the disc 24 by one fourth of revolution, corresponds to a cycle of 24 hours and causes the rotation by one thirty-first of revolution of the disc 35 and of the shaft 19 on which a reel (not shown) is fixed, adjacent to the reel 46, carrying blades similar to the blades 48 and the indicating the date of the month, which blades move forward one after the other at each 31st part of revolution of the shaft 19..

if the instant month has 3i days, at the 30th day, the pin 43 will be on a depressed portion 44b and will not be actuated to rotate the sector 37 through the lever 38, so that the portion 36 of the profile of the projection 34 remains entirely circular and the nose 33 of the arm 28 is inoperative. As a consequence, when the disc 35 has accumulated 31 days, its teeth 35a will engage the teeth 55, 56 of the gear 54, rotating the latter counterclockwise by one pitch; this rotation, through the clutch 59, the pinion 57 and the gear 45 is transmitted to the reel 46 so as to overturn the blade 48 indicating the following month.

If on the contrary the instant month has 30 days, the rotation of the disc 35 will bring the pin 43 at the 30th day to engage a tooth 44a, so that the pin 43 will be actuated to rotate the lever 38 by a predetermined angle against the action of the spring 40, and the lever 38 will in turn rotate the sector 37 to uncover a part of the portion 36 of lesser diameter of the projection 34.

Consequently, when at the end of the 30th day of the month the roller 31 will fall into the recess 12 of the cam 11; the nose 33 coming into contact, as hereinbefore explained, with the projection 34 will meet its portion 36 of lesser diameter, whereby the roller 31 will fall into the recess 12 completely to its bottom, thus causing the arm 28 to accomplish a rotation of the preceding ones. Said rotation of the arm 28 is such as to bring its end 27 out of contact with the teeth 25, 26 of the disc 24 which will begin to rotate.

When the nose 33 climbs up on the projection 34 the end 27 will abut the tooth 26 of the following pair of teeth 25, 26, thus stopping the rotation of the disc 24, of the shaft 19 and of the disc 35. The continuing rotation of the cam 11 transmitted by the hour indicating device will cause the roller 31 to climb up from the recess 12 on to the circumference of the cam 11 and said roller, in the manner as hereinbefore explained, will cause the am 28 to rotate in the direction of the arrow F to its initial position.

This rotation of the arm 28 disengages its bent end 27 from the tooth 26, whereby the shaft 19 and the disc 35 will rotate until the following tooth 25, abutting the end 27, stops the rotation. During this latter rotation the teeth 35a will engage the teeth 55, 56 of the gear wheel 54 causing in the aforementioned manner the blade 48 to overturn to indicate the following month.

It will be understood that in such way, during the rotation of the shaft 19 corresponding to the rotation of the disc 24 from a tooth 25 to the tooth 26 of the following pair the indication of the 31st day has been omitted, or more precisely has been caused to pass very rapidly on the device (not shown) indicating the days with which the shaft 19 is connected.

The operation is similar for the months of February having 28 or 29 days.

In the case of the months of February with 28 days the rotation of the reel 46 by one pitch to pass from the month of January to the month of February will cause the cam 51, in phase with the current year, to be pressed inwardly to its operation position by the tooth 66, so as to bring its profile to overlap the profile of the cam 44 in the sector in which the pin 43 is on the 28th day of the month. Consequently, the pin 43 on the 28th day, engaging the profile of the cam 51, will uncover the portion 36 of the annular projection 34 in the manner hereabove described, but by a predetermined greater part.

Therefore, when the nose 33 falls into the portion 36, the disc 24 will be free to rotate through a whole revolution, that is through a cycle suitable to pass rapidly from the 28th of February to the first of March; during such passage the days 29th, 30th and 31st will rapidly appear on the dial indicating the days, which will eventually indicate the first day of March.

In the case of months of February of 29 days (in leap years) the tooth 66 will urge inwardly the cam 52 in the sector in which the pin 43 is on the 28th day of the month, which cam has a profile slightly different from that of the cams 51 and will cause the disc 24 to rotate by three-fourths of revolution so as to shift rapidly the days 30th and 31st.

From the description of the mechanism carried out according to the invention it will be seen that the manual adjustment of the reel 46 indicating the months can be effected at any moment by merely rotating the wheel 58 counterclockwise independently from the gear wheel 54 through the saw-tooth clutch 59 and independently from the gearings controlling the devices indicating the days and the months, the mechanism and the indicating devices remaining always in correct phase relation.

What is claimed is:

l. A variable ratio carry-over mechanism for indicators, particularly for clocks including a calendar, having a month-indicating device, comprising a means moving together with the month-indicating device, said means including a first cam divided into four sectors equal to one another, the profile of each sector corresponding to the period of one year, and four additional cams each one cooperating with each of said sectors, three of said four additional cams having profiles equal to one another and corresponding to each month of February having 28 days, the fourth of said four additional cams having a different profile corresponding to the month of February of leap years, said four additional cams being movable between a first inoperative position in which their profile does not interfere with the profile of said first cam and a second operative position in which their profile overlaps the profile of said first cam during the month of February of each year, means being provided for shifting said cams into said second operative position.

2. A variable ratio carry-over mechanism for indicators, particularly for clocks including a calendar characterized by being actuated by a means which moves together with the month indicating device, and comprising a disc with an annular projection performing one revolution through every month, a sector rotatably mounted within said projection for varying a portion of its profile according to the number of days of each month, the rotation of said sector being actuated by said means moving together with the month indicating device, and a feeling element following the profile of said projection and controlling the movement of said mechanism. 

1. A variable ratio carry-over mechanism for indicators, particularly for clocks including a calendar, having a monthindicating device, comprising a means moving together with the month-indicating device, said means including a first cam divided into four sectors equal to one another, the profile of each sector corresponding to the period of one year, and four additional cams each one cooperating with each of said sectors, three of said four additional cams having profiles equal to one another and corresponding to each month of February having 28 days, the fourth of said four additional cams having a different profile corresponding to the month of February of leap years, said four additional cams being movable between a first inoperative position in which their profile does not interfere with the profile of said first cam and a second operative position in which their profile overlaps the profile of said first cam during the month of February of each year, means being provided for shIfting said cams into said second operative position.
 2. A variable ratio carry-over mechanism for indicators, particularly for clocks including a calendar characterized by being actuated by a means which moves together with the month indicating device, and comprising a disc with an annular projection performing one revolution through every month, a sector rotatably mounted within said projection for varying a portion of its profile according to the number of days of each month, the rotation of said sector being actuated by said means moving together with the month indicating device, and a feeling element following the profile of said projection and controlling the movement of said mechanism. 